document_title: List of The Inbetweeners characters

question_text: who plays the drug dealer in the inbetweeners

question_tokens: who plays the drug dealer in the inbetweeners

text: List of The Inbetweeners characters

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Character
TV Series
Films

Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
The Inbetweeners Movie
The Inbetweeners 2

Main

Will McKenzie
Simon Bird

Simon Cooper
Joe Thomas

Jay Cartwright
James Buckley

Neil Sutherland
Blake Harrison

Family

Polly McKenzie
Belinda Stewart-Wilson

Mr McKenzie

Anthony Head

Pamela Cooper
Robin Weaver

Alan Cooper
Martin Trenaman

Andrew Cooper
Dominic Applewhite

Terry Cartwright
David Schaal

Mrs Cartwright
Victoria Willing

Uncle Bryan

David Field

Kevin Sutherland
Alex MacQueen

Katie Sutherland

Kacey Barnfield

Other

Phil Gilbert
Greg Davies

Carli D'Amato
Emily Head

Mark Donovan
Henry Lloyd-Hughes

Charlotte Hinchcliffe
Emily Atack

John Webster
John Seaward

Tara Brown

Hannah Tointon

text: Major characters[edit]

text: Will McKenzie[edit]

text:
Played by Simon Bird[1]
2008–2014

text: Will moves from a private school to a state comprehensive school because his mother, Polly, can no longer afford to pay the tuition fees. Upon moving to the new school, Simon, Neil and Jay reluctantly become Will's new friends after initially trying to avoid him. The group warm to him after several efforts to win their friendship – including successfully buying alcohol underage and (almost) having sex with the most attractive girl in the school. He is an unconventional hero – although he is generally the wittiest and most level-headed of the group, he is prone to making bad decisions, easily giving in to peer pressure, and making outrageous remarks. He is generally sophisticated, sensible and possesses intelligence that surpasses that of his immediate friends. Another dominant characteristic, is his tendency to deliver sarcastic, dry humorous remarks, which sometimes get him into trouble. Will also appears to follow certain ethical laws, though is not above occasionally committing illegal acts, such as buying alcohol underage, and inadvertently or accidentally making insults, such as against Neil's father while drunk and people who are disabled, among others.

text: Will aspires to have a career in law or maybe the media, and was supposed to be attending a local newspaper office for work experience. However, a mix-up with applications sends Neil to the newspaper office (instead of "driving aeroplanes") and Will spends his placement at a garage, where he ultimately fails to fit in and gets bullied by the staff working there. At the end of the second series, when the boys face exams, Will began to crack under pressure and relies on energy drinks to keep him awake- believing that if he doesn't sleep he can spend more time revising. This plan unfortunately backfires, leading to him soiling himself during his final exam, and after completing it several hours late, he goes to the pub and downs three pints of lager, compensating for the fact that he has probably failed his Politics AS level. He is interested in Charlotte "Big Jugs" Hinchcliffe, and the two of them have been known to spend time together, with Will accidentally ruining their relationship. He nearly lost his virginity to Charlotte after telling her in school a few days prior that he had had numerous lovers, although when they did attempt to have sex, Charlotte was let down by Will's unsuccessful attempt; in his own words "rubbing up against the perineum".

text: In Series 3, Will is convinced to go on a double date with Simon, Tara, and Tara's friend, Kerry (or "Big Kerry" according to Will). He is repulsed by her as she is taller than he is, and is rather ditzy and boring; however once he hears how she is known for fellating her last few boyfriends, he continues his relationship with her. They unexpectedly share a kiss when Kerry escorts him back home, which gives her the impression that they are now dating. At Neil's eighteenth birthday party, Will causes outrage by attempting to harshly break-up with Kerry, not knowing that her father had died a month previously, and that Tara had arranged their relationship to comfort her. Will later attempts to arrange a final camping holiday with the lads before they go their separate ways after leaving school. Will is the only character out of the four to never pass his driving test; this is in large part due to the fact his mother did not sign him up for driving lessons on his 17th birthday as she thought the minimum age was 18.

text: In The Inbetweeners Movie, the group go on holiday to Malia in Greece after leaving school, where Will meets Alison, a woman with a similar personality to him. Despite Alison initially acting distant towards Will's advances, owing to the fact that she already has a boyfriend, they become closer and she suggests they go skinny dipping one night. At the beach the following night, Alison strips naked in front of Will, imploring him to do the same before placing his hand on her breast, and they appear to be growing closer until she catches her boyfriend having sex with another woman and runs off crying. They ultimately reconcile at a boat party later that week, where Alison admits to Will that she really likes him. Will affirms that he likes her as well and they begin a relationship.

text: Will serves as the narrator in the show and is therefore the principal character.

text: Simon Cooper[edit]

text:
Played by Joe Thomas[1]
2008–2014

text: Simon is the oldest member of the group. He becomes best friends with Will after initially avoiding him due to his "actual briefcase", "clumpy shoes" and "gay hair". Simon's first task of the new term is showing Will to his classes – a task assigned by the Head of Sixth Form, Mr. Gilbert. Simon being the eldest; was also the first to learn how to drive, having passed his driving test (in dubious circumstances) before Christmas. His father bought him an old small, yellow Fiat Cinquecento Hawaii – Simon, his friends and others think the car is very embarrassing and dislike the colour, and mock the fact that it has a tape deck. The car loses it's passenger-side door due to Jay opening the door suddenly whilst having an argument with Simon when he was reversing at Thorpe Park. However, in "Caravan Club", the door has been replaced with a red one.

text: Simon has had a crush on his childhood friend Carli D'Amato since she was eight years old, an interest which becomes more apparent throughout the series. Despite many pathetic attempts to show her his feelings – such as spray painting "I Love Carli D'Amato" on her driveway – for a long time she didn't reciprocate, partly due to having a boyfriend, but in the final episode of the second series: "Exam Time", Carli seemed interested in Simon after she split up with her boyfriend Tom, and they end up kissing while revising for A-levels at Simon's house. Carli agreed to meet Simon at the local pub for a post-exam drink, but when she arrived it was revealed she had reconciled with her boyfriend, to the disappointment of Simon. His parents briefly go on a trial separation in "The Duke of Edinburgh Awards", but they had reconciled by the end of the episode.

text: In series 3, Simon takes part in the school charity fashion show, but embarrasses both himself and Carli when he walks along the catwalk wearing Speedos with a testicle sticking out. In the episode "The Gig and the Girlfriend", Simon gets a girlfriend, Tara, whom he kisses at a concert. The couple break up at the end of the episode "A Trip to Warwick" after they fail to have sex due to Simon not able to get an erection. Simon is perhaps the most irritable of the group, especially when in discussions with his family, where he frequently overreacts to gentle goading and even kind advice. He is often shown to be extremely impulsive and vulgar, saying and doing things that cause him great embarrassment. He is also known for getting into a slew of misfortunes including being physically and verbally abused (once by a twelve-year-old), accused of being a "paedophile" on numerous occasions, failing to have sex with his former girlfriend Tara after taking Jay's questionable sex advice, and humiliating himself in front of Carli, most notably during the fashion show. In the last episode, the boys play a game where they swap mobile phones, and have to send a text message to anyone of their choice on the phone's contact list. Simon later receives a reply from Carli that leaves him with a smile, which suggests she feels the same way as Simon, and indicates that there is more in store for him and Carli.

text: In The Inbetweeners Movie, the group go on a lad's holiday to Malia, Crete, after leaving school. It turns out Carli is there too, because Neil asked her where she was going and booked a holiday to the same place. Simon chases Carli for the whole film, leaving a girl named Lucy in the dust. In the end, Carli kissed Simon on a party boat, but only to get back at another boy. Simon tells her that their relationship probably wouldn't work out and tries to swim from the boat back to the shore to Lucy. He nearly drowns, getting airlifted to the shore where he tells Lucy how he feels about her, then goes to a hospital. In the credits, found footage shows all the boys with their new girlfriends, which indicates that they all found the right person in Greece and it all ended "happily ever after".

text: Jay Cartwright[edit]

text:
Played by James Buckley[1]
2008–2014

text: Jay is obsessed with sex, with almost all his comments being about the subject. He frequently lies and exaggerates about his experiences – sexual and otherwise – often making crude comments about girls/women in general and offering highly questionable 'advice' to his friends, and frequently uses words such as "clunge" and "snatch" to describe women's genitalia. In fact, he is the least sexually experienced of the group, frequently relying on pornography to attain gratification, as he finds it difficult engaging with girls. He is also the physically weakest of the group, with his scrawny physique and small penis size being constantly made fun of throughout the show's run. His dad contradicts Jay's exaggerated stories in an often bullying nature, claiming Jay is very unsuccessful with women (this is likely the source of Jay's obsession), and is always 'putting him down' in some way or another. He is arrogant, insecure and two-faced, often inventing stories about his various exploits and giving his friends bad advice about sex to bolster his ego, while being aware that they will inevitably fail.

text: At the end of the first series, Jay opens up to Big John, admitting that many of his stories are somewhat exaggerated because he is worried that people do not notice him, and that he is afraid of being ignored. However, he throws this side of him away when Samantha, a girl possessing many similar characteristics to Jay starts chatting to him. He seldom performs any acts of kindness and he routinely insults even his closest friends, with his comments reaching a more severe level than the insults the rest of the group frequently exchange. In one of the deleted scenes he even insults Will in German. It is implied in the last episode that Jay may have been sexually abused by his former next-door neighbour, when Neil mentions a "game" that Jay and the neighbour used to "play" in the garden shed, which Jay denies abruptly.

text: Jay's only friend who genuinely likes him is Neil, purely because he is so gullible and believes Jay's extravagant stories. Another recurring theme of Jay's character is that he often steals things, such as hair removal cream ("Duke of Edinburgh Awards") and a flyer for a house party ("Will's Birthday") from a girl named during registration. He also often gets Simon into trouble for things he had said, most notably getting Simon throttled by a man after Jay shouted "bus wankers!" through the window. Between the second and third series, Jay passed his driving test; however, both his car and driving skills are equally as poor as Simon's.

text: In 'The Inbetweeners Movie', Jay is the force behind the idea that the boys should go out, drink and sleep with random girls; however, he ends up falling for a girl named Jane who, despite being overweight, is easy-going and funny. He initially insults her and implies he is embarrassed by her weight, to which she writes him off, but they reconcile when he realises his pre-conceived ideas about girls aren't quite right and that he really likes Jane. Despite his series-long judgemental nature about girls' appearances, he appears to have overcome it when Neil makes a careless remark about her weight, and he replies with "What a horrible thing to say". She gives him his first ever blowjob and they immediately become a couple.

text: Neil Sutherland[edit]

text:
Played by Blake Harrison
2008–2014

text: Neil is the slow and somewhat dim member of the group. Due to his gullibility, he is often the only person who believes Jay's outrageous stories, and often fails to pick up the sarcasm in Will's one-liners. His friends tease him about his father being a "bender"; both Neil and his father strongly deny this. He has, along with Simon, passed his driving test and owns a souped-up Vauxhall Nova GSi, but it doesn't have an engine. He takes part in the school's version of Blind Date and wins an unwanted date with Susie, one of the school's "freaks". He works at Thorpe Park, and also works on-off over the series at Asda. He can do "The Robot" and has a crush on his biology teacher Miss Timbs. Despite being mentally slow, he is friendly and outgoing compared to the rest of the group.

text: Neil is the most sexually experienced of the group; a recurring theme is that Neil ends up hooking up with women originally fancied by Will. He spent a night in Simon's car with a Goth in the series one episode "Caravan Club". It is also revealed that he snogged and fingered Charlotte Hinchcliffe after Will was with her, although he informs Will only of the snog to protect his friend's feelings from further being hurt (he tells the other two silently via hand gestures when Will turned his back). He also managed to get a blowjob from Will's crying date Kerry at his 18th birthday party. Neil is also revealed to have sexual encounters with unseen female characters on the show, including a colleague at Asda. In the final episode of series 3, Neil worries that he has impregnated her, but receives a text stating otherwise. He celebrates the fact that he has contracted an STI from her, assuming that this is a good thing. Neil's middle name is revealed to be Lindsay in a deleted scene from series 3, at his 18th birthday party.

text: Neil has an extremely attractive older sister, whom the boys stare at when visiting Neil's; however, he usually doesn't get embarrassed or annoyed by the attention like Will does about his mum, more likely because he is stoic and an easy-going person. His dad is often shown to be annoyed by Neil's thoughtlessness, and constantly says in an exasperated tone "Neil!". Recurring jokes are that despite his lack of intelligence, Neil tends to be right about meaningless facts, and that he often unintentionally gets with girls Will is pursuing. Neil often hooks up with much older, unattractive women – he is shown to be surprised when he thinks "Saucy Asda Karen" is pregnant, because "she told me she couldn't have any more kids". In the extended edition of 'The Inbetweeners Movie', an bonus scene reveals that he pursues old women because of his lust after Will's mum and he thinks that they look like her, despite clearly not looking anything like her.

text: In the movie, he has an girlfriend of a similar age named Nicole, whom he swears he couldn't cheat on whilst on holiday because he thinks he loves her and he has "effics" (ethics); however, his definition of cheating changes conveniently with his sexual activity, such as it's not cheating if there's no kissing, or not if only "the tip goes in; any more than that is cheating". When he finally gets together with Lisa and she expresses her unhappiness with the situation because she too has "effics", he tells her Nicole dumped him before they left for Malia so it isn't cheating at all. This is implied to have been a lie when in the credits, Nicole shows up to greet him at the airport and he runs away with Lisa to avoid her, leaving Nicole confused.

text: Secondary characters[edit]

text: Phil Gilbert[edit]

text:
Played by Greg Davies
2008–2014

text: Mr Gilbert is the head of sixth form. He is sardonic, sadistic, misanthropic, dry, depressed and possesses no enthusiasm for his occupation, once telling Will that "the only reason people go into teaching is because they are unambitious, unlucky and the relaxed rules on police background checks". When he is not being outright sadistic, he shows no regard for the students and their welfare. On the occasions he does stop wrongdoing, he tends to defuse the situation without resolving the issues that caused it.

text: He strongly dislikes the boys, particularly Will, who tries to endear himself to Gilbert and gets rebuffed. He takes delight at any misfortune to befall Will – even going so far as to threaten him if he snitched on whoever tied him up and put a bin over his head. In Series 3, he gives Jay and Neil four weeks' detention after they mention "Waterside", the shopping centre they spotted him buying soft toys in. In the third series, he tells Will that he is single (despite allegedly dating Miss Timbs in the episode 'Exam Time') and that Will's mum is "very much his type". He also blackmails Will into discovering who destroyed a local roundabout's flower arrangement by threatening to sabotage his university application, as he believes Will sticks his "beaky nose" into everybody's business and must know who did it.

text: In the first movie, Gilbert gives an end-of-year speech, in which he expresses utter contempt for the entire year group, claiming he is "at best ambivalent" towards most of the students, but that he "actively dislikes" others for their "poor personal hygiene" (looking at Big John) and "irritating personalities" (whilst looking at Will). He ends the hate-filled speech by asking that they not murder anyone, as it "reflects badly" on the school. In the final scene of the first movie Gilbert is seen riding shirtless on a Quad bike in Malia.

text: In the second movie it is revealed that Gilbert has been in a relationship with Will's mother. They announce their engagement at the end of the movie, to the terror of Will, as he realizes Gilbert will soon become his stepfather.

text: Carli D'Amato[edit]

text:
Played by Emily Head[1]
2008–2011

text: Carli is Simon's love interest and has been since they were eight. She is popular and attractive, with an older rugby-player boyfriend, making her even more unattainable. Although she is well aware of his crush on her, she only seems to think of Simon as a platonic friend – it is implied that she strings him along to gain his favour. Simon is oblivious to Carli's shallow, manipulative and selfish personality, although his friends are not as fooled. On several occasions, Will and Jay have openly expressed contempt for her, with Will pointing out that she merely strings him along, and Jay calling her "stuck-up." She throws Simon small bits of affection to keep his hopes up in her. In "Exam Time", she asks if she can study for exams at his house, and when there, mentions she has broken up with her boyfriend; when she notices Simon trying to impress her, she uses the opportunity to get him to help tutor her for another subject that he is not even taking himself. He ends up spending the entire revision period studying for her Geography exam, so he can continue to tutor her, instead of his own exams. When he later thinks they have a chance at dating, she promptly tells him she is back with Tom.

text: In episode one of series three, a wedge is driven between Carli and Simon after he accidentally revealed one of his testicles in the fashion show, believing he did it on purpose to make a fool out of her. However, in the series finale, Carli seems to be more affectionate towards Simon, hinting at a potential relationship, were Simon not moving to Swansea. She later replies to a prank text, sent by the boys from Simon's phone. However Simon refuses to reveal the nature of the response, but expressing great pleasure upon reading it.

text: Between the end of the series and the beginning of the film, Simon and Carli have been dating, but she breaks up with him as she wants to be single whilst going on holiday and at uni, obviously having viewed their relationship with a lot less investment than Simon. The boys' attempts to get him over Carli are the catalyst for going on holiday in Malia, although they find once there that Neil had thoughtlessly booked them onto the same holiday as her, which Simon views as a sign he should win her back. He rebuffs the advances of a nice girl named Lucy in his attempts to win Carli back, but she has formed a relationship with James, her cocky holiday rep. At a boat party, she and James fall out and Carli asks Simon to kiss her to make James jealous. Simon eventually realises that Carli is using him for her own ends and breaks up with her for good.

text: Mark Donovan[edit]

text:
Played by Henry Lloyd-Hughes[1]
2008–2011

text:
Donovan is the foul-mouthed school bully, who often picks on Will. This is partly because he caught Will kissing his ex-girlfriend Charlotte. He is the typical bully, who is polite and friendly in front of parents or teachers, but is otherwise a thug. Donovan is somewhat sensitive, demanding that Will be "gentle" with Charlotte, whilst threatening him with death if he speaks of it. He appears to be less hostile (yet by no means friendlier) towards Jay, Simon and Neil. In Series 3, it is revealed that Mark smokes cannabis. Jay and Neil attempt to buy some off him upon learning of this, only for him to take the money and sarcastically give them tea granules wrapped in cling film. He was mentioned in the third episode when Donovan attacked Neil in detention and pinned him down and drew penises on the cast that Neil wore.
Donovan reappears in the film, after Mr. Gilbert's speech, where he says goodbye to the lads, whom he calls the "bender squad". He then proceeds to give Will an extremely painful wedgie, until Carli tells him to stop. In the deleted scenes, the wedgie is done so hard the underwear used for the wedgie is torn off of Will.

text: Charlotte Hinchcliffe[edit]

text:
Played by Emily Atack[1]
2008–2010
Charlotte "Big Jugs" Hinchcliffe is a very attractive and promiscuous girl, and the most popular girl in school. Will kissed her twice, and attempted to have sex with her, claiming he had had sex before. Despite her reputation, nickname and the stereotypes shown with other popular girls in the school, notably Carli, Charlotte is a very friendly, compassionate girl. She is also not as shallow as the other popular girls in the school, and appears interested in Will somewhat, serving as his chief love interest in the series. Unfortunately, he often makes a fool of himself in front of her, and occasionally offends her. She works as a barmaid, and is often found upstairs at a party having sex, including with Simon's sex-crazed French exchange student, Patrice – shortly after meeting him. In the first series Charlotte claimed to have slept with eleven boys, and Jay mentioned that "she once munched off the whole rugby team" in spite of the fact that their school doesn't even have a rugby team. Neil also admits to kissing her shortly after she had 'broken it off' with Will and hints that he had also fingered her. When Will is given a work placement in a garage, in an attempt to fit in with the staff, he loudly claims that Charlotte is his girlfriend and that she goes like a porn star, resulting in her throwing a drink in his face upon finding out. Since she is in the year above the boys, she goes off to university at the end of Series 2 when the boys go into Year 13, but in the first episode of series three, she returns home because she had a 'reading week' and is chosen to enter the fashion show. It is revealed that she has previously done catalogue modelling, and that she was a special guest in the fashion show. She admits to Will that he is the sort of person she would like to date, but then reveals she does not want him specifically, and when she returns to university after the Fashion show she is never seen again.

text: Tara Brown[edit]

text:
Played by Hannah Tointon
2010
Tara Brown[2] is in the year below the four main characters and becomes a love interest for Simon when he accidentally sits on her in the common room, after which they get talking and she invites him to a gig. A confident, vivacious and adventurous girl, she becomes Simon's girlfriend in the episode "The Gig and the Girlfriend". Simon promises to bring cannabis to the gig, after Jay claims (though he was lying) that his friend could get them some. They eventually do find some weed and all get high. In the same episode, Tara gets injured while "moshing" and, from a combination of being stoned and concussed, she feels queasy and faint and is sick just before she kisses Simon. Will goes to Simon for help when he has an averse reaction to the drugs but he is too busy, as Will puts it, "licking the vomit off her tonsils", to care. It is clear that Tara still resented Will for making her friend Kerry cry at Neil's 18th birthday party in Will's Dilemma and they never speak to each other after that. Her final appearance is in the episode "The Trip to Warwick", in which Simon and Tara plan to go to her sister's house in Warwick to have sex. Simon brings along the other boys, angering Tara. Simon scares Tara after he can't get an erection (after following some fairly unhelpful advice from Jay), and attempts to induce one by hitting his penis. He and the other boys then get kicked out of Tara's sister's house in the middle of the night and Simon receives a text telling him to "never contact her again".

text: When her name is mentioned, Jay often mimics the sound of Morse code on a Telegram as if in a newsroom, making a "beepity beep beepity beep" noise and exclaiming "Tara Update!", because Simon talks about her constantly. He manages to keep this up even when vomiting profusely due to a hang-over on the car journey back from Warwick.

text: John Webster[edit]

text:
Played by John Seaward
2008–2011
"Big" John Webster is a simple student who joined the school at the same time as Will. He is constantly bullied for being overweight, and is often seen eating. In the third episode of the second series, despite his general unpopularity, he is invited to a party to which Will, Simon, Jay and Neil were not invited, and is seen successfully flirting with a girl at the party – with his hand on her breast. He is later seen sporadically throughout the series. In the first movie, while Mr Gilbert is giving his hate-filled end of year speech, John is briefly seen sniffing his underarms when Mr Gilbert mentions that he "actively dislikes" some students for their "poor personal hygiene". In the Inbetweeners Yearbook, his full name is revealed to be 'John Webster' and he is featured prominently throughout the yearbook; including his artwork and reviews of food. He reveals he is somewhat obsessed with Jay after their encounter at the prom and wishes to remain in contact with him after Sixth Form. He also wishes for people to call him 'Awesome John'.

text: John Kennedy[edit]

text:
Played by Waen Shepherd
2009–2010
John Tom "Paedo" Kennedy is a Geography teacher at Rudge Park. A rumour frequently circulates of him being a paedophile, and he shows a particular attraction toward Neil. He goes as far in Series 2 to take Neil "skinny dipping" whilst on a geography trip and buys Neil a bottle of vodka as an incentive for him to do so, before sneaking into the boys' dormitory in the middle of the night and touching Neil inappropriately. Neil, however does not seem to fear Kennedy very much until his re-appearance in 'The Fashion Show'. Mr Gilbert makes it clear that he is aware of Mr Kennedy's tendencies, usually stating that he "has his neck on the line" for him. He is still, however, employed by the school, much to the incredulity of the boys.

text: Minor and one-off characters[edit]

text: David Glover[edit]

text:
Played by Richie Hart
2008–2010
David is a student at the school who appears in several episodes but does not say very much. He is popular and looks down on the four primary characters, referring to Will as a "posh little prick" and calling Neil a "twat". He ignores Will on his first day when he attempts to make friends with him. David is often seen in the background playing his Nintendo DS and snooker at school in the common room. On the school trip to Swanage, he is seen answering the door at the party and conferring with Donovan as to whether to let the boys in. In 'Exam Time', Neil mentioned that he thinks that Jay's new girlfriend Chloe "got off" with Glover. In The Inbetweeners Yearbook, he is briefly mentioned by Neil in the map of Rudge Park; Neil says that he and Jay had a fight outside of school and that the video was uploaded to YouTube but taken down shortly after for being too violent. This is highly doubtful however and is probably a lie fabricated by Jay to Neil.

text: David[edit]

text:
Played by Greg Coker
2008-2010
David is a new student who arrives at the school the same time as Will. He is seen as a weirdo throughout the series, helping with the Christmas prom and attending Neil's 18th birthday party. He is known for having acne and being a member of the 'freaks'. He is friends with 'Big John'. His only lines are in the Deleted Scenes of Series 1, where he is also forced to eat his own badge by Mark Donovan. He is virtually unseen in the rest of the show, however in the first episode of Series 2 during the scene where Simon and Will are in the canteen with Lauren, he can be seen on the table behind them staring into space for the whole few minutes of that scene.

text: 'Football Friend'[edit]

text:
Played by Luke Norris
2008
Jay's older friend who he allegedly met during trials for West Ham ("that never happened" according to Simon). The rest of the group continuously mock Jay for having a friend outside of their group by saying 'friend', 'football friend' or 'car friend' in a high-pitched voice, and giving him a thumbs-up gesture. This irritates Jay to the extent that, upon seeing Football Friend's car at the side of the road one day, jumps up and down on the bonnet aggressively, yelling "fucking football friend" until the man arrives on the scene and chases them off. Jay mentions later that he had to borrow £300 to have the car repaired to stop the police from being called.

text: Becky[edit]

text:
Played by Clemency Hallian
2008
Becky is, like Jay, a regular visitor to the caravan club. When the boys head on an outing to the caravan club, Jay promises the group that they will meet her and that she is largely promiscuous. She texts Simon (after sorting out with Jay prior to the group's arrival) a picture of herself, which makes Simon think that she likes him and wants to have sex with him. At the caravan club disco, Simon wrongly believes that she does want sex with him after she danced with him and they share a kiss, and he undresses himself in front of her, which scares her off and causes Simon to have a fall out with Jay because he lied to him. Jay is quick to announce that he hasn't actually had sex with her at all; just with girls 'like Becky' at the caravan club.

text: 'Punk Girl'[edit]

text:
Played by Suzi Battersby
2008
The Punk Girl is around the same age as the boys and has red hair and a goth type personality. She is seen on her own at the caravan club disco. Upon meeting Will, she asks him to go outside to have sex with her (this being after they have already kissed), but Will, who is reluctant, suggests they should get to know each other a bit more first. In a bid to get out of having sex with her, he begins to childishly slide along the wooden floor on his socks. Ultimately, this puts her off him completely. Later on at the disco, she is impressed by Neil's dance moves and it is discovered on the drive home that Neil fingered her in the night and she gave him handjobs, having slept in Simon's car.

text: Lauren Harris[edit]

text:
Played by Jayne Wisener
2009
Lauren is a girl from Northern Ireland who joins the school in the second term. Will meets her on the coach to Swanage, where he confuses her with his impression of the Star Wars character Yoda, which she assumes is a social impairment. She hangs out with the group for the duration of the trip, with both Will and Simon attracted to her. To Will's frustration, it is revealed that she is attracted to Simon and has no interest in Will romantically. After the field trip to Swanage, Will says in the closing narration that she moved away and they never saw her ever again.

text: Susie[edit]

text:
Played by Anabel Barnston[1]
2008
Susie is a geeky girl who joined the school along with Will. She is taking her A-Levels 4 years early. She has an interest in Russian literature, and Neil (to his dismay) picked her in the charity Blind Date. Neil unwillingly takes Susie to Milwaukee Fried Chicken (an analogue of KFC); however, owing to the age difference, Susie's mother came with them too. Simon, Jay and Will go to watch them under the impression that Neil and his date are sitting around a bargain bucket.

text: Samantha Leah[edit]

text:
Played by Jo Maycock
2008
Samantha is a female version of Jay, stating that Jay's monologue on sensitivity and trust made him seem "bent" (a word for word copy of the statement Jay made to Simon earlier in the same episode) and telling an unbelievable lie that she "used to DJ at a top club in Ibiza" (highly unlikely for someone of school age) and that she could "probably get him a gig" there. Taken aback by this which seemed more like something that Jay himself would say, he invites her to spend part of the school prom in the DJ booth. He later claims that she gave him a blow job; another outrageous lie that is quickly dismissed by the other boys and logically broken down to a handjob and then just to that he had ejaculated in his pants with questionable and unsubstantiated stimulus.

text: Daisy[edit]

text:
Played by Catherine Steadman
2009
Daisy used to be Will's babysitter. She is invited to Will's mum's barbecue, and mentioned how she works at the care home. Will, Simon and Neil later work at the care home as a volunteer on part of their Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. Will hits it off with Daisy, and after going on a date (which is actually just Daisy saying thank you to Will for covering her at work) they go back to her apartment. Unfortunately, Will has no pubic hair because Jay and Neil had used hair remover on Will whilst he was sleeping in the common room. Will decided to follow Simon's advice and "wear a wig down there". When Daisy finds the wig, she is not amused. She has been concerned throughout their relationship that Will was too young for her, and seeing him now without any pubic hair causes her to feel very guilty and want nothing more to do with him in that sense.

text: Miss Timms[edit]

text:
Played by Amanda St. John
2008
Miss Timms is a Biology teacher at Rudge Park Comprehensive. Neil, Jay and Simon find her very attractive, although Will, as an outsider, thinks that the idea of her extreme attractiveness is just a subconscious comparison to the other older, unattractive teachers at their school. Whilst drunk at the school disco, Neil attempts to kiss her, but gets an erection and is then escorted outside by Mr. Gilbert.

text: Chris D'Amato[edit]

text:
Played by Deo Simcox
2008, 2010
Chris is Carli's younger brother. In the series one episode Bunk Off, Will upsets him by telling him about terrorists. Afterwards, Simon accidentally vomits on his head. In the series three episode Camping Trip, a drunk Simon sneaks into his bedroom in the middle of the night and feels him up, believing it to be Carli's room. This causes Chris further distress.

text: Chloe[edit]

text:
Played by Lizzie Stables
2009
Chloe dated Jay in the finale episode of the second series. We are told that Jay met her at the bus stop and their relationship followed on from there. Jay possesses genuinely compassionate feeling and the character exists to expose Jay's sensitive side that is typically concealed by his cruel self-centred personality. Jay dismisses sexual comments made by Neil regarding Chloe (which Neil had only initially passed to gain Jay's approval, as such comments are more typical of Jay's character). Later on Chloe ends the relationship due to Jay following his father's advice and constantly checking up on her, she believing, paradoxically, that Jay was too sensitive. In Will's Dilemma, Will brings her up, but Jay does not want anything to do with her, hinting he still hadn't gotten over her yet.

text: Rachel[edit]

text:
Played by Lily Lovett
2009–2010
Rachel is Carli's best friend who strongly dislikes Simon over his obsession with Carli. She plays a main role in the episode Night Out in London where Will attempts to 'pull' her in a London nightclub when he is amazed that she likes him enough to speak to him. However, she goes for another boy. Rachel is seen in numerous other episodes in the other series as well, mostly with Carli, although doesn't have any other major lines.

text: Tom[edit]

text:
Played by Ollie Holme
2008–2009
Tom is Carli's boyfriend. A few years older than she is and so not at the school, he is a rugby player who neglects her for his teammates at times. The couple have split up in the final episode of series two, only to reconcile at the end of the episode.

text: Patrice[edit]

text:
Played by Vladimir Consigny
2009
Patrice is a French exchange student, the son of Pamela Cooper's friend. He lives with Simon for a short time, displays little interest in the boys, and has bad habits that include urinating in gardens. Patrice is a racist who spontaneously tells Will that he dislikes Arabs – perhaps a misunderstanding of Will's dark hair, complexion and eyes. He shows little regard to accepted social norms and openly tells Will that his mother "has the sex" (is sexy) and later that he had just masturbated in the bathroom whilst fantasising about her. Patrice is very attractive to women – even Simon and Will's mothers seem to fancy him – Will's mother is clearly taken aback when she first meets him and seems to revert to being a starstruck school-girl momentarily. He is seen in bed with Charlotte at a party; Mark Donovan shows up and Will tells him that Charlotte is upstairs. The closing narration of the episode alludes to Patrice having been beaten up by Donovan – to Will's delight.

text: Danny Moore[edit]

text:
Played by Charlie Wernham
2009
Danny appears in series 2 episode 2. He is a 12-year-old boy from Northwood and his family are said to be involved in crime. He starts a feud with Simon after he bumped into him while walking to class. Jay insults him for his angry reaction while his back is turned, and Danny incorrectly assumes that Simon made the remark. When Simon is receiving a handjob from Hannah Fields at a disco, Danny comes out of nowhere and knocks Simon to the floor before kicking him in the penis, thereafter finding several older boys from Northwood who hunt the boys with the intention of beating them up. The boys hide in the toilet until Will's mum arrives to pick them up.

text: Jim[edit]

text:
Played by Cavan Clerkin
2009
Jim is the head mechanic at the garage Will is sent to for work experience in the second episode of Series 2. An impudent Cockney, he attempts a snipe hunt on Will on the first day (only for Will to catch on), and later, along with the other mechanics, strips Will and throws him into a lake after inviting him out to a pub. He believes Will to be a virgin, and upon learning of Charlotte, expresses desire to "check her out", unconcerned that she is Will's alleged girlfriend. At the under-18s disco, Jim speaks to Charlotte over Wolfie's mobile phone, telling her all of Will's outrageous allegations about their relationship.

text: Wolfie[edit]

text:
Played by David Fynn
2009
Wolfie is one of the assistant mechanics at the garage Will was sent to, along with his boss Jim. He is seventeen years old (or at least claims to be) but appears much older due to his deep voice and facial hair. He goes to the under-eighteen's disco to check out Charlotte, who Will previously bragged about having sex with to the two after they said he was unsuccessful sexually. There, he puts her on the phone to Jim, who informs her of all of Will's allegations about her "going like a porn star".

text: Hannah Fields[edit]

text:
Played by Holly Peplow
2009
Hannah appears in the series 2 episode "Work Experience". She is discussed when it is found that Simon has received a Valentines card from her. She then appears later in the episode at the under 18's disco where she gives Simon a hand job, due to being drunk before he was attacked by Danny Moore.

text: Kerry[edit]

text:
Played by Abbey Mordue
2010
Kerry (a.k.a. 'Big Kerry' or 'Bigfoot') is a friend of Tara's whom Will unwillingly went on a date with. Although not attracted to her because of her height, he stays with her in the hope that according to Simon he may get oral sex from her. Unsuccessful, he tries to break-up with her at Neil's party, but is thrown out because it turns out that her father had died recently (unbeknownst to Will), and Will has offended her in trying to defend himself. As Will got thrown out of Neil's house and banned, Neil's father reported the incident to his mother Polly and as a result Will is grounded for 3 weeks although he apologised to Neil for ruining his birthday party, only for Neil to reveal that Kerry had given him several blowjobs after the guys had left, much to Will's disappointment.

text: Alistair Scott[edit]

text:
Played by Steven Webb
2010
Alistair is a wheelchair-bound student, who suffered a kidney failure and had a transplant. Rudge Park school organised a fashion show in support of his charity. Despite being popular on his return, this may be the "celebrity" of being the focus of surviving a serious illness. He is arrogant, short tempered, immature and unpleasant. He throws tantrums when upset by Will who tries to usurp the fashion show because he believes it is too vain to be a suitable charitable event – at one point becoming hysterical and trying to ram Will's legs with his chair.

text: The Tramp[edit]

text:
Played by Robert McCafferty
2009
A Scottish tramp who lives in an alleyway beside the nightclub the boys go to in London. When Simon is unable to enter because of his trainers, he reluctantly trades shoes with him to get in, only to find that they are soaked with urine. Carli notices this, and leaves Simon, unflattered. Simon returns to him after leaving the club, to discover that his new trainers are also now saturated with urine and fecal matter.

text: Angry Neighbour/"The Fat Old Shit"[edit]

text:
Played by Mark Roper
2010
The man whose front garden is frequently vandalised by Jay and Neil. When Will eventually participates in the vandalism, the boys are caught. Angry at his daffodils being destroyed by the four boys, he arrives at Will's house the next day to try and punish them, but instead informs Will's mother; who has just arrived home from her weekend break to the Cotswolds.

text: Steve[edit]

text:
Played by Doc Brown.
2010
A drug dealer who appears in the Series 3 episode "The Gig And The Girlfriend". When the group are looking for drugs at the gig, Jay and Neil see Steve giving a man something discreetly that they assume is drugs, but when they go over to ask for him for some, he presumes that they think he is a drug dealer because he is Black. Regardless, he lets the boys buy drugs off of him and even rolls it up, following Jay's request.

text: Mrs. D'Amato[edit]

text:
Played by an unnamed extra.
2008
Mrs. D'Amato is Carli's mother. She only appears in the series one episode Bunk Off, when the boys are waiting outside the off-licence for Will. She so happens to be passing by on the street and Jay takes the opportunity to embarrass Simon by quickly telling her Simon's feelings towards Carli. Mrs. D'Amato doesn't respond, but gives the boys a disapproving look. The only other time she is mentioned is in the very first episode when Carli asked Simon not to mention the night out at the pub to his folks as he knows what her mum is like, and the last episode of Series 2 where Carli tells Simon that her mum was always listening in when Carli split up with Tom (which is the cause of how Simon discovers they have actually split up).

text: Sophie[edit]

text:
Played by Charlie Covell.
2010
Sophie is Tara's sister. She is mean and is suspicious of the four boys, especially Simon. She ultimately throws out the four boys from her house when Jay breaks into her room at night whilst drunk and attempts to seduce her roommate Heike, Neil urinates while sleeping in Heike's bed, Will eats one of her plants for a dare, and Simon starts acting strangely – sexually – with Tara, despite Will's attempts to persuade her to let them stay.

text: Heike[edit]

text:
Played by Ambrosine Falck.
2010
Heike is Sophie's foul-mouthed Dutch roommate. In Trip To Warwick she is first seen when she walks into the room and meets Jay and Neil and had a very bad cold. She is later seen when Jay scared her asking her for sex, but Sophie kicks him out. She is not seen or mentioned again after this episode.

text: The University Boys: The Bombardier, The Commander and The Admiral[edit]

text:
Played by Lewis Linford, Jack Brear and Daniel Kirrane
2010
Lewis, Joe and Daniel are three obnoxious teenagers who frequently play loud drinking games in Sophie's living room. The three are typical university students and as such their drunken behaviour disturbs Will, who assumes that his evenings at university will involve intellectual debate. They immediately nickname Will "Speccy" and later engage him in a game of "Question", demanding that he (and Jay and Neil) down a can of beer for asking a question. The boys later convince Jay that Sophie's Dutch housemate, Heike, is sexually attracted to younger men.

text: Fergus[edit]

text:
Played by Scott Biggerstaff
2010
Fergus is Will's Mum's friend that she is going on holiday with to the Cotswolds in Series 3 episode 5. Will's Mum apparently caught up with him on Facebook and Will quickly has suspicions that there is love involved; this and the fact Will's Mum is on Facebook is the basis for much interest from Jay and Neil who repeatedly make jokes about it. Fergus himself is only seen for about two seconds in his car waiting to set off with Will's Mum. Will immediately has a dislike towards him and berates his mother for her lack of judgement in going on an internet date with someone she hardly knows asking "where's he taking you? A ditch off the A40?". He is mentioned again at the very end of that episode in the closing narrating comments when Will says his Mum was dumped immediately because Fergus couldn't put up with a 'problem child'.

text: Mrs. Springett[edit]

text:
Played by an unknown actor
2010
Mrs Springett is an elderly woman, presumed to be a close neighbour or relative of Will's Mum. Will's Mum asks her to pop by to check if everything is okay during Series 3 episode 5 when Will is home alone for the weekend. She makes her extremely brief appearance later on in the episode the next morning when she 'hears banging' (not knowing it was coming from the angry neighbour) and tries to come into the house. Will panics and quickly kicks the door shut on her, knocking her out. When Will's mum returns home, Mrs Springett is shown to have suffered from a broken nose after being hit by the door.

text: Family[edit]

text: Polly McKenzie[edit]

text:
Played by Belinda Stewart-Wilson[1]
2008–2014

text: Polly is Will's young attractive mother, whom several of his classmates have stated their attraction to. Because of her separation from his father, she cannot afford to continue sending Will to a private school. This sets up the pilot episode, but she attributes their house and school move to him having being bullied. Will is often teased about his mother's attractiveness, although Polly is often oblivious to their desires, such as assuming in the series 3 episode Home Alone that the boys are giving genuine gaming advice, when they tell her to 'bounce around' to improve her performance in a video game.

text: Polly often overshares details or stories about Will, who is seen to be embarrassed by his mother, like in Home Alone she asks Neil to insert a suppository to cure Will's migraines, when she told Simon and Mark Donovan in Thorpe Park about the time he cried on the ghost train, when, aged seven and drunk on shandy, he "pulled down his pants" and ran around yelling "I've got a white slug". She also often gives well-intentioned advice or praise to Will, but phrases it horribly and makes him feel self-conscious, like when she tells Will not to pursue Charlotte Hinchcliffe, the most popular girl in school, by telling him that someone like him should "go for one of the plainer girls. Let the good-looking boys go out with the good-looking girls" or when she tells him she can trust that he won't do drugs because he is boring. Because of Will's sarcastic replies, she usually looks pleased with herself afterwards. However, Will seems to have quite a childlike attachment to his mother, whom he cries to when he is upset and gets her to report his bullying to Mr Gilbert.

text: Polly attempts to begin a relationship with a former schoolfriend named Fergus, the first since her separation, but it is ruined by Will's dramatic reaction and consequently getting drunk and vandalising a garden; Fergus breaks up with Polly because he can't deal with a "problem child".

text: In the second film, Polly begins a relationship with Will's former head of sixth form, Mr Gilbert. Originally, when she is seen on Skype, Will becomes suspicious on seeing that she has laid two bowls for breakfast, although she pretends that Will's grandmother is staying. Then, at the end of the film, Polly announces to Will that she and Mr Gilbert have entered into a relationship (he adds that they have been having sexual intercourse and that he is looking forward to "going diving") and that they are soon to be married, to Will's horror as Mr Gilbert is to become his new stepfather.

text: Pamela Cooper[edit]

text:
Played by Robin Weaver[1]
2008–2014

text: Pamela is Simon's mother. She is caring and supportive to him, but her efforts to help are often met by embarrassment and surliness from Simon. The details of her and Mr. Cooper's sex life are often shared with the boys by him, which makes Simon feel awkward. When Simon is being unreasonable, she attempts to reason with him and make the best of things, which usually serves to make him more ill-tempered.

text: In one episode, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper separate temporarily, which upsets her greatly; however when Simon hears her about her crying he gets embarrassed and annoyed by her "blubbing". However, they reconcile by the end of the episode, and according to Will's narration, have noisy sex upstairs whilst the boys are in the front room.

text: Alan Cooper[edit]

text:
Played by Martin Trenaman[1][3]
2008–2014
Alan is Simon's father. He constantly reminds Simon (and the other boys) of his sex life, often going into unwelcome, inappropriate, intimate detail of his sexual life both with and before his marriage to Pamela. While dropping the boys off at the airport he tells the boys that they are in for a great time stating "girls just seem to let themselves go a bit more abroad". Despite his sexual nature Alan is an ultimately caring parent and reasonable disciplinarian, but he is often described his son to 'go mental' when he does something irresponsible or lets him down, i.e. going out to London at night and not attending the 'Father-Son Golf Tournament'.

text: Andrew Cooper[edit]

text:
Played by Dominic Applewhite[1]
2008–2010

text: Andrew is Simon's younger brother, with whom he often argues. He has been seen to outsmart Simon on more than one occasion, and it seems that he has a bit of disdain for Simon's uncool "sad case" status, suggesting he is probably more popular and more liked at school than Simon.

text: In the series finale when Mr Cooper announces that after a hard decision, he is moving the family to Wales, Simon reacts badly and says he will stay in London and get a flat with Jay, and that Andrew can live there too; Andrew flatly refuses to even consider it, implying that he would rather move to Wales than live with Simon and Jay.

text: Mrs Cartwright[edit]

text:
Played by Victoria Willing[1]
2008–2011
Mrs Cartwright is Jay's mother. She often unwittingly interrupts Jay while he is doing things in private, such as masturbating or looking at his fake ID.

text: Terry Cartwright[edit]

text:
Played by David Schaal[1]
2008–2014
Terry is Jay's overweight and verbally abusive father. He has poor toilet hygiene, and frequently ridicules Jay's stories about girls. Despite this, he seems to get along well with Simon and Neil. He finds it amusement in revealing to the other boys that all of Jay's stories about his alleged numerous sexual experiences are lies. Terry runs a building plant hire yard and enjoys caravan holidays.

text: Kevin Sutherland[edit]

text:
Played by Alex MacQueen[1]
2008–2014
Kevin is Neil's easy going mild-mannered father, who is often the subject of rumours of his closet homosexuality. He vehemently denies this, despite the boys (bar Neil) and their parents being convinced that he is homosexual, with Will drunkenly calling him a "bumder" ("a portmanteau of the words 'bummer' and a 'bender'") to his face. Despite the frequent accusations, there is no true evidence to the viewer or the characters that Kevin is actually a homosexual.

text: Katie Sutherland[edit]

text:
Played by Kacey Barnfield
2009–2010
Katie is Neil's attractive elder sister who currently lives at home with the Sutherlands, along with her boyfriend. Katie is incredibly assertive and often loosely hostile towards the boys (bar her brother, Neil) and reveals in the series 2 episode "A Night Out In London" that she is fully aware of Will, Jay and Simon's physical attraction towards her.

text: Neil's Gran[edit]

text:
Played by Stephanie Fayerman
2010
Neil's gran is only ever seen once at Neil's 18th birthday party and is shocked when Neil tells Simon "not to spunk on his bed sheets".

text: Mr McKenzie[edit]

text:
Played by Anthony Head
2011
Will's dad is mentioned throughout the series but he does not appear until the movie, in which he announces he has just got married to a woman who is, according to Will, only four years older than Will, making her 22. It also appears he has no real interest left in Will due to his social awkwardness. He appears first right at the beginning of the film and again during the credits, where he receives a picture of Will with Alison in Malia. Upon seeing it, he smiles, knowing he can now be proud of his son.

text: Unseen characters[edit]

text: Katie Sutherland's boyfriend[edit]

text: Katie's boyfriend is first mentioned in the episode "Thorpe Park" in which Neil tells the boys that he works as a cashier at a local BP garage (the boys mistakenly assume that he's a mechanic). He is mentioned again later in the show where he is again referred to as a mechanic.

text: The Headmaster - Mr Hopkins[edit]

text: The Headmaster has a speaking role in a deleted scene in series 1 in which he is played by Martin Ball. In the first episode he can be seen sitting next to Mr. Gilbert but he does not say anything. He does not appear in the assembly in the film.

text: Sadie Cunningham[edit]

text: Sadie is a girl in Jay's tutor group, and sits next to Jay. Jay often steals things out of her bag such as hair removal cream and an invite card to Louise Graham's birthday party. Interestingly, there is a real actor who plays Sadie and it turns out that she has a 'voice only' part; in Series 3 Episode 1 when Neil is complaining with Simon that he cannot see the girls because of the curtain, one of the girls overhears and angrily tells Neil from the other side "We can hear you". This is the voice of the actor who plays Sadie (it is revealed in the commentary from the main characters on the DVD).

text: Jack Stephens[edit]

text: Neil mentions that he dropped a ruler next to Miss Timbs. It is unknown whether he is Neil's friend.

text: Chris Groves[edit]

text: In the first episode of Series 2, Jay mentions that he has a mate in Year 13 by this name. He mentions his name again in the Series 3 preview. Due to the outlandish nature of Jay's claims, it is questionable whether he even exists, since Simon had never heard of him.

text: Sarah Bell[edit]

text: In the first episode of series 3, Neil is very annoyed that a curtain has been put up meaning he cannot see (or help) the girls getting changed for the fashion show. He mentions to Simon that he imagines that "Sarah Bell's got lovely big nipples", much to Sarah's disgust (who overhears from the other side of the curtain).

text: Jo Larken[edit]

text: Similarly to Sarah Bell, Neil quickly also tells Simon that he reckons "Jo Larken shaves her pubes" when he realises a curtain has been put up meaning he cannot see the girls.

text: Paul Keenan[edit]

text: In the first episode of Series 3, "The Fashion Show", Paul is supposed to be modelling with Charlotte Hinchcliffe in the 1970s disco theme section. However he supposedly drank a bottle of vodka and passed out due to a mix of alcohol and nerves, leading Will to take his place, despite his previous criticisms of the Fashion Show, saying it was "exclusive vanity".

text: Chris Yates[edit]

text: In "The Fashion Show", Chris is supposed to be modelling with Carli D'Amato in the 'Sexy Finale' Theme in which he had to wear speedos, DMs, a tophat and a leash. But according to Carli, his back was disgustingly hairy so she sacked him. He can actually be seen in the episode, if one looks behind Carli whilst she is talking to Simon, he can be seen in the background with a hairy back, technically making him a 'one off' character.

text: Chris Wharton[edit]

text: A boy Jay claims he used to sit next to in woodwork class, and who now works in a newsagent's. During "The Trip to Warwick", Jay tells Neil and Will the story of how Wharton got his head stuck in a bottle bank and by the time he was found in the morning he had been "arse-raped eighteen times". Neil believes the story, but Will does not, questioning how the first eighteen people who found Wharton "turned out to be opportunistic homosexual rapists" and why Wharton would tell Jay about the ordeal due to its embarrassing nature.

text: Steve D'Amato[edit]

text: Steve is Carli's father. Carli tells Simon that he went ballistic when Simon vandalised their driveway, and Mr. Cooper tells Simon that Steve threatened to "fuck him up" when he sneaks into Carli's brother Chris' bedroom in the middle of the night, which he mistook for Carli's.

text: Neil's mum[edit]

text: Neil's mother is mentioned several times throughout the show. She is divorced from Neil's father, Kevin. Neil claims that she was in a difficult place, though many assume the reason for the divorce was Kevin's supposed homosexuality. She has since dated a man similar to Kevin, leading Neil to believe that she has a type. She bought Neil a motorbike for his eighteenth birthday, but Jay crashed it shortly afterwards. She is the only parent among the four boys who is never seen.


document_title: List of NHL players with 500 consecutive games played

question_text: who has played the most consecutive nhl games

root

text: For ice hockey players in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing 500 consecutive regular season games is considered a highly significant achievement. This is often referred to as an "Iron man streak".

tag: p

text: As of the completion of the 2016–17 NHL season — the 99th regular season of play of the National Hockey League — a total of 24 different players had played at least 500 consecutive regular season games in their NHL career — making it one of the most exclusive 500-clubs in the NHL.

text: The first player to play 500 consecutive games was Murray Murdoch of the New York Rangers, who played his 500th consecutive game during the 1936–37 season, the 20th season of the NHL. Doug Jarvis currently holds the record for most consecutive games played with 964, never missing a regular season game in his NHL career. Glenn Hall is the only goaltender to play 500 or more consecutive games.

text: Henrik Sedin's active streak of 679 consecutive games played ended on January 21, 2014 when he was unable to play due to injuries.[1] Jay Bouwmeester's ended at 737 on November 23, 2014 due to an injury in the previous game.[2]

text: There are currently four players with active streaks: Keith Yandle, Patrick Marleau, Phil Kessel, and Karl Alzner.

text: 500 consecutive games played[edit]

text: This is a list of the 24 NHL players who have played at least 500 consecutive regular season games in their NHL career (updated to games played on 2 February 2018)

text:
active streak
( ) denotes games played in current season
C = Streak is from the start of their career

text:
Rank
Name
Consecutive games

1
Doug Jarvis
964 (C)

2
Garry Unger
914

3
Steve Larmer
884

4
Andrew Cogliano
830 (C)

5
Craig Ramsay
776

6
Jay Bouwmeester
737

7
Keith Yandle
682 (49)

8
Henrik Sedin
679

9
Patrick Marleau
677 (53)

10
Phil Kessel
663 (53)

11
Andy Hebenton
630 (C)

12
Karl Alzner
591 (51)

13
Johnny Wilson
580

14
Billy Harris
576

15
Mark Recchi
570

16
Danny Grant
566

17
Alex Delvecchio
548

18
Brendan Morrison
542

19
Craig MacTavish
519

20
Brad Boyes
513

21 (tie)
Andrew Brunette
509

21 (tie)
John Marks
509

23
Murray Murdoch
508 (C)

24
Glenn Hall (G)
502

tag: table


document_title: Noble Eightfold Path

question_text: the four noble truths and eight fold path are part of which religion

question_tokens: the four noble truths and eight fold path are part of which religion

text: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Etymology and nomenclature[edit]

text: The Pali term ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo (Sanskrit: arya astanga marga) is typically translated in English as "Noble Eightfold Path". This translation is a convention started by the early translators of Buddhist texts into English, just like ariya sacca is translated as Four Noble Truths.[13][14] However, the phrase does not mean the path is noble, rather that the path is of the noble people (Pali: arya meaning 'enlightened, noble, precious people').[15] The term maggo (Sanskrit: marga) means "path", while aṭṭhaṅgiko means "eightfold". Thus, an alternate rendering of ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo is "eightfold path of the noble ones",[3][16][17] or "eightfold Aryan Path".[18][19][20]

text: All eight elements of the Path begin with the word samyañc (in Sanskrit) or sammā (in Pāli) which means "right, proper, as it ought to be, best".[18] The Buddhist texts contrast samma with its opposite miccha.[18]

text: The Eightfold Path[edit]

text: Origin[edit]

text: According to Indologist Tilmann Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term the middle way.[5] In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.[5] Tilmann Vetter and historian Rod Bucknell both note that longer descriptions of "the path" can be found in the early texts, which can be condensed into the eightfold path.[5][21][note 1]

text: The Eight Divisions[edit]

text: The original eight Buddhist practices in the Noble Eightfold Path are:[23][note 2]

text:
Right View: our actions have consequences; death is not the end, and our actions and beliefs have also consequences after death; the Buddha followed and taught a successful path out of this world and the other world (heaven and underworld/hell)[24][25][26][27][note 3] Later on, right view came to explicitly include karma and rebirth, and the importance of the Four Noble Truths, when "insight" became central to Buddhist soteriology.[28][29]
Right Resolve: the giving up home and adopting the life of a religious mendicant in order to follow the path; this concept aims at peaceful renunciation, into an environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will (to loving kindness), away from cruelty (to compassion).[30] Such an environment aids contemplation of impermanence, suffering, and non-Self.[30]
Right Speech: no lying, no rude speech, no telling one person what another says about him, speaking that which leads to salvation;[23]
Right Conduct: no killing or injuring, no taking what is not given, no sexual acts.[23]
Right Livelihood: beg to feed, only possessing what is essential to sustain life;[23]
Right Effort: guard against sensual thoughts; this concept, states Harvey, aims at preventing unwholesome states that disrupt meditation.[30]
Right Mindfulness: never be absent minded, being conscious of what one is doing; this, states Harvey, encourages the mindfulness about impermanence of body, feeling and mind, as well as to experience the five aggregates (skandhas), the five hindrances, the four True Realities and seven factors of awakening.[30]
Right Concentration: practicing four stages of meditation (dhyāna) culminating into unification of the mind.

tag: ol

text: Liberation[edit]

text: Following the Noble Eightfold Path leads to liberation in the form of nirvana:[31][32]

text: (...) Just this noble eightfold path: right view, right aspiration, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. That is the ancient path, the ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times. I followed that path. Following it, I came to direct knowledge of aging & death, direct knowledge of the origination of aging & death, direct knowledge of the cessation of aging & death, direct knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of aging & death. I followed that path. Following it, I came to direct knowledge of birth... becoming... clinging... craving... feeling... contact... the six sense media... name-&-form... consciousness, direct knowledge of the origination of consciousness, direct knowledge of the cessation of consciousness, direct knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of consciousness. I followed that path.

text: Threefold division[edit]

text: The Noble Eightfold Path is sometimes divided into three basic divisions, as follows:[35]

text:
Division
Eightfold Path factors

Moral virtue[29] (Sanskrit: śīla, Pāli: sīla)
3. Right speech

4. Right action

5. Right livelihood

Meditation[29] (Sanskrit and Pāli: samādhi)
6. Right effort

7. Right mindfulness

8. Right concentration

Insight, wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñā, Pāli: paññā)
1. Right view

2. Right resolve

text: This order is a later development, when discriminating insight (prajna) became central to Buddhist soteriology, and came to be regarded as the culmination of the Buddhist path.[36] Yet, Majjhima Nikaya 117, Mahācattārīsaka Sutta, describes the first seven practices as requisites for right samadhi. According to Vetter, this may have been the original soteriological practice in early Buddhism.[5]

text: "Moral virtues" (Sanskrit: śīla, Pāli: sīla) group consists of three paths: right speech, right action and right livelihood.[29] The word śīla though translated by English writers as linked to "morals or ethics", states Bhikkhu Bodhi, is in ancient and medieval Buddhist commentary tradition closer to the concept of discipline and disposition that "leads to harmony at several levels – social, psychological, karmic and contemplative".[37] Such harmony creates an environment to pursue the meditative steps in the Noble Eightfold Path by reducing social disorder, preventing inner conflict that result from transgressions, favoring future karma-triggered movement through better rebirths, and purifying the mind.[37][38]

text: The meditation group ("samadhi") of the path progresses from moral restraints to training the mind.[39][40] The goal in this group of the Noble Eightfold Path is to develop clarity and insight into the nature of reality – dukkha, anicca and anatta, discard negative states and dispel avidya, ultimately attaining nirvana.[41]

text: In the threefold division, prajna (insight, wisdom) is presented as the culmination of the path, whereas in the eightfold division the path starts with correct knowledge or insight, which is needed to understand why this path should be followed.[42]

text: Tenfold Path[edit]

text: In the Mahācattārīsaka Sutta[43][44] which appears in the Chinese and Pali canons, the Buddha explains that cultivation of the noble eightfold path of a learner leads to the development of two further paths of the Arahants, which are right knowledge, or insight (sammā-ñāṇa), and right liberation, or release (sammā-vimutti).[45] These two factors fall under the category of wisdom (paññā).[46]

text: The Noble Eightfold Path, in the Buddhist traditions, is the direct means to nirvana and brings a release from the cycle of life and death in the realms of samsara.[47][48]

text: Further explanation[edit]

text: Right view[edit]

text: "Right view" (samyak-dṛuṣṭi / sammā-diṭṭhi) or "right understanding"[49] explicates that our actions have consequences, that death is not the end, that our actions and beliefs also have consequences after death, and that the Buddha followed and taught a successful path out of this world and the other world (heaven and underworld or hell).[24][25][26][27] Majjhima Nikaya 117, Mahācattārīsaka Sutta, a text from the Pāli Canon, describes the first seven practices as requisites of right samadhi, starting with right view:

text: Of those, right view is the forerunner [...] And what is the right view with effluents, siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions? 'There is what is given, what is offered, what is sacrificed.[note 4] There are fruits, and results of good and bad actions. There is this world and the next world. There is mother and father. There are spontaneously reborn beings; there are contemplatives and brahmans who faring rightly and practicing rightly, proclaim this world and the next after having directly known and realized it for themselves.' This is the right view with effluents, siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions.[43][50]

text: Later on, right view came to explicitly include karma and rebirth, and the importance of the Four Noble Truths, when "insight" became central to Buddhist soteriology.[28] This presentation of right view still plays an essential role in Theravada Buddhism.[29]

text: The purpose of right view is to clear one's path from confusion, misunderstanding, and deluded thinking. It is a means to gain right understanding of reality.[51] In the interpretation of some Buddhist movements, state Religion Studies scholar George Chryssides and author Margaret Wilkins, right view is non-view: as the enlightened become aware that nothing can be expressed in fixed conceptual terms and rigid, dogmatic clinging to concepts is discarded.[51]

text: Theravada[edit]

text: Right View can be further subdivided, states translator Bhikkhu Bodhi, into mundane right view and superior or supramundane right view:[52][53]

text:
Mundane right view, knowledge of the fruits of good behavior. Having this type of view will bring merit and will support the favourable rebirth of the sentient being in the realm of samsara.
Supramundane (world-transcending) right view, the understanding of karmic and rebirth, as implicated in the Four Noble Truths, leading to awakening and liberation from rebirths and associated dukkha in the realms of samsara.[54][29]

text: According to Theravada Buddhism, mundane right view is a teaching that is suitable for lay followers, while supramundane right view, which requires a deeper understanding, is suitable for monastics. Mundane and supramundane right view involve accepting the following doctrines of Buddhism:[55][56]

text:
Karma: Every action of body, speech, and mind has karmic results, and influences the kind of future rebirths and realms a being enters into.
Three marks of existence: everything, whether physical or mental, is impermanent (anicca), a source of suffering (dukkha), and lacks a self (anatta).
The Four Noble Truths are a means to gaining insights and ending dukkha.

text: Right resolve[edit]

text: Right resolve (samyak-saṃkalpa / sammā sankappa) can also be known as "right thought", "right intention", or "right aspiration". In this factor, the practitioner resolves to leave home, renounce the worldly life and dedicate himself to a spiritual pursuit.[23][29] In section III.248, the Majjhima Nikaya states,

text: And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve.[57]

text: Like right view, this factor has two levels. At the mundane level, the resolve includes being harmless (ahimsa) and refraining from ill will (avyabadha) to any being, as this accrues karma and leads to rebirth.[29][58] At the supramundane level, the factor includes a resolve to consider everything and everyone as impermanent, a source of suffering and without a Self.[58]

text: Right speech[edit]

text: Right speech (samyag-vāc / sammā-vācā) in most Buddhist texts is presented as four abstentions, such as in the Pali Canon thus:[43][59]

text: And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from idle chatter: This is called right speech.

text: Instead of the usual "abstention and refraining from wrong" terminology,[37] a few texts such as the Samaññaphala Sutta and Kevata Sutta in Digha Nikaya explain this virtue in an active sense, after stating it in the form of an abstention.[60] For example, Samaññaphala Sutta states that a part of a monk's virtue is that "he abstains from false speech. He speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world."[60] Similarly, the virtue of abstaining from divisive speech is explained as delighting in creating concord.[60] The virtue of abstaining from abusive speech is explained in this Sutta to include affectionate and polite speech that is pleasing to people. The virtue of abstaining from idle chatter is explained as speaking what is connected with the Dhamma goal of his liberation.[60][29]

text: In the Abhaya-raja-kumara Sutta, the Buddha explains the virtue of right speech in different scenarios, based on its truth value, utility value and emotive content.[61][62] The Tathagata, states Abhaya Sutta, never speaks anything that is unfactual or factual, untrue or true, disagreeable or agreeable, if that is unbeneficial and unconnected to his goals.[62][63] Further, adds Abhaya Sutta, the Tathagata speaks the factual, the true, if in case it is disagreeable and unendearing, only if it is beneficial to his goals, but with a sense of proper time.[62][63] Additionally, adds Abhaya Sutta, the Tathagata, only speaks with a sense of proper time even when what he speaks is the factual, the true, the agreeable, the endearing and what is beneficial to his goals.[62][63][64]

text: The Buddha thus explains right speech in the Pali Canon, according to Ganeri, as never speaking something that is not beneficial; and, only speaking what is true and beneficial, "when the circumstances are right, whether they are welcome or not".[64]

text: Right action[edit]

text: Right action (samyak-karmānta / sammā-kammanta) is like right speech, expressed as abstentions but in terms of bodily action. In the Pali Canon, this path factor is stated as:

text: And what is right action? Abstaining from killing, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from sexual misconduct. This is called right action.[65]

text: The prohibition on killing precept in Buddhist scriptures applies to all living beings, states Christopher Gowans, not just human beings.[66] Bhikkhu Bodhi agrees, clarifying that the more accurate rendering of the Pali canon is a prohibition on "taking life of any sentient being", which includes human beings, animals, birds, insects but excludes plants because they are not considered sentient beings.[67] Further, adds Bodhi, this precept refers to intentional killing, as well as any form of intentional harming or torturing any sentient being.[67] This moral virtue in early Buddhist texts, both in context of harm or killing of animals and human beings, is similar to ahimsa precepts found in the texts particularly of Jainism as well as of Hinduism,[68][69] and has been a subject of significant debate in various Buddhist traditions.[67]

text: The prohibition on stealing in the Pali Canon is an abstention from intentionally taking what is not voluntarily offered by the person to whom that property belongs.[70] This includes, states Bhikkhu Bodhi, taking by stealth, by force, by fraud or by deceit.[71] Both the intention and the act matters, as this precept is grounded on the impact on one's karma.[71]

text: The prohibition on sexual misconduct in the Noble Eightfold Path, states Tilmann Vetter, refers to "not performing sexual acts".[72] This virtue is more generically explained in the Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta, which teaches that one must abstain from all sensual misconduct, including getting sexually involved with someone unmarried (anyone protected by parents or by guardians or by siblings), and someone married (protected by husband), and someone betrothed to another person, and female convicts or by dhamma.[73][74]

text: For monastics, the abstention from sensual misconduct means strict celibacy, states Christopher Gowans, while for lay Buddhists this prohibits adultery as well as other forms of sensual misconduct.[75][76][77] Later Buddhist texts, states Bhikkhu Bodhi, state that the prohibition on sexual conduct for lay Buddhists includes any sexual involvement with someone married, a girl or woman protected by her parents or relatives, and someone prohibited by dhamma conventions (such as relatives, nuns and others).[73]

text: Right livelihood[edit]

text: Right livelihood (samyag-ājīva / sammā-ājīva) precept is mentioned in many early Buddhist texts, such as the Mahācattārīsaka Sutta in Majjhima Nikaya as follows:[43]

text: "And what is right livelihood? Right livelihood, I tell you, is of two sorts: There is right livelihood with effluents, siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions; there is right livelihood that is noble, without effluents, transcendent, a factor of the path.

text: "And what is the right livelihood with effluents, siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones abandons wrong livelihood and maintains his life with right livelihood. This is the right livelihood with effluents, siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions.

text: "And what is the right livelihood that is noble, without effluents, transcendent, a factor of the path? The abstaining, desisting, abstinence, avoidance of wrong livelihood in one developing the noble path whose mind is noble, whose mind is without effluents, who is fully possessed of the noble path. (...)

text: The early canonical texts state right livelihood as avoiding and abstaining from wrong livelihood. This virtue is further explained in Buddhist texts, states Vetter, as "living from begging, but not accepting everything and not possessing more than is strictly necessary".[72] For lay Buddhists, states Harvey, this precept requires that the livelihood avoid causing suffering to sentient beings by cheating them, or harming or killing them in any way.[30]

text: The Anguttara Nikaya III.208, states Harvey, asserts that the right livelihood does not trade in weapons, living beings, meat, alcoholic drink or poison.[30][78] The same text, in section V.177, asserts that this applies to lay Buddhists.[79] This has meant, states Harvey, that raising and trading cattle livestock for slaughter is a breach of "right livelihood" precept in the Buddhist tradition, and Buddhist countries lack the mass slaughter houses found in Western countries.[80]

text: Right effort[edit]

text: Right effort (samyag-vyāyāma / sammā-vāyāma) is presented in the Pali Canon, such as the Sacca-vibhanga Sutta as follows:[59][65]

text: And what is right effort?

text:
Here the monk arouses his will, puts forth effort, generates energy, exerts his mind, and strives to prevent the arising of evil and unwholesome mental states that have not yet arisen.
He arouses his will... and strives to eliminate evil and unwholesome mental states that have already arisen. He arouses his will... and strives to generate wholesome mental states that have not yet arisen.
He arouses his will, puts forth effort, generates energy, exerts his mind, and strives to maintain wholesome mental states that have already arisen, to keep them free of delusion, to develop, increase, cultivate, and perfect them.
This is called right effort.

text: The unwholesome states (akusala) are described in the Buddhist texts, as those relating to thoughts, emotions, intentions, and these include pancanivarana (five hindrances) – sensual thoughts, doubts about the path, restlessness, drowsiness, and ill will of any kind.[72][81] Of these, the Buddhist traditions consider sensual thoughts and ill will needing more right effort. Sensual desire that must be eliminated by effort includes anything related to sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touch.[82] Ill will that must be eliminated by effort includes any form of aversion including hatred, anger, resentment towards anything or anyone.[82]

text: Right mindfulness[edit]

text: Right mindfulness (samyak-smṛti / sammā-sati) in the Sacca-vibhanga Sutta is explained as follows:[59][65]

text: And what is right mindfulness?

text:
Here the monk remains contemplating the body as body, resolute, aware and mindful, having put aside worldly desire and sadness;
he remains contemplating feelings as feelings;
he remains contemplating mental states as mental states;
he remains contemplating mental objects as mental objects, resolute, aware and mindful, having put aside worldly desire and sadness;
This is called right mindfulness.

text: This factor in the Noble Eightfold Path helps the monk to guard the mind, and not to crave and cling to any transitory state or thing, by complete and constant awareness of phenomena as impermanent, suffering and without self.[41] The most detailed discussion of the right mindfulness in the Pali Canon is in the Satipatthana Sutta, where the emphasis is to consider the "four contemplations" – body, feelings, mind and phenomena – as just that and nothing more, and not ascribe to them any substantiality, nor self.[83][note 5]

text: According to modern Theravada orthodoxy, these "four contemplations" through right mindfulness lead to insight of the three characteristics of existence – anicca, dukkha and anatta, and cover the five skandhas (aggregates, heaps).[85][note 6]

text: Right samadhi ("concentration")[edit]

text: Samadhi (samyak-samādhi / sammā-samādhi) is a common practice in Indian religions. Although often translated as "concentration," as in the limiting of the attention of the mind on one object, it also refers to the clearness and heightened alertness of mind which appears through prolonged practice of dhyana.[86][not specific enough to verify] The term samadhi derives from the root sam-a-dha, which means 'to collect' or 'bring together', and thus it is often translated as 'concentration' or 'unification of mind'. In the early Buddhist texts, samadhi is also associated with the term samatha (calm abiding). In the suttas, samadhi is defined as one-pointedness of mind (Cittass'ekaggatā).[87] Buddhagosa defines samadhi as "the centering of consciousness and consciousness concomitants evenly and rightly on a single object...the state in virtue of which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered."[88]

text: Neither the Four Noble Truths nor the Noble Eightfold Path discourse, states Johannes Bronkhorst, provide details of right samadhi.[89] The explanation is to be found in the Canonical texts of Buddhism, in several Suttas, such as the following in Saccavibhanga Sutta:[59][65]

text: And what is right concentration?

text:
[i] Here, the monk, detached from sense-desires, detached from unwholesome states, enters and remains in the first jhana (level of concentration, Sanskrit: dhyāna), in which there is applied and sustained thinking, together with joy and pleasure born of detachment;
[ii] And through the subsiding of applied and sustained thinking, with the gaining of inner stillness and oneness of mind, he enters and remains in the second jhana, which is without applied and sustained thinking, and in which there are joy and pleasure born of concentration;
[iii] And through the fading of joy, he remains equanimous, mindful and aware, and he experiences in his body the pleasure of which the Noble Ones say: "equanimous, mindful and dwelling in pleasure", and thus he enters and remains in the third jhana;
[iv] And through the giving up of pleasure and pain, and through the previous disappearance of happiness and sadness, he enters and remains in the fourth jhana, which is without pleasure and pain, and in which there is pure equanimity and mindfulness.
This is called right concentration.[65][90]

text: According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the right concentration factor is reaching a one-pointedness of mind and unifying all mental factors, but it is not the same as "a gourmet sitting down to a meal, or a soldier on the battlefield" who also experience one-pointed concentration.[91] The difference is that the latter have a one-pointed object in focus with complete awareness directed to that object – the meal or the target, respectively. In contrast, right concentration meditative factor in Buddhism is a state of awareness without any object or subject, and ultimately unto nothingness and emptiness.[91]

text: Some scholars, such as Bronkhorst, question the historicity and chronology of these details. Bronkhorst states that this path may be similar to what Buddha taught, but the details and form of right concentration in particular, and possibly other factors, is likely of later scholasticism.[92][93] Bronkhorst states this is likely because Buddha could not have assumed the third stage of jhana, which includes "Noble Ones say", since he is considered to be the first to reach the samadhi and enlightened state of nirvana, then turning the wheel of dhamma.[92] It is likely that later Buddhist scholars incorporated this, then attributed the details and the path, particularly the insights at the time of liberation, to have been discovered by the Buddha.[92]

text: Practice[edit]

text: Order of practice[edit]

text: Vetter notes that originally the path culminated in the practice of dhyana/samadhi as the core soteriological practice.[5] According to the Pali and Chinese canon, the samadhi state (right concentration) is dependent on the development of preceding path factors:[43][94][95]

text: The Blessed One said: "Now what, monks, is noble right concentration with its supports and requisite conditions? Any singleness of mind equipped with these seven factors — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness — is called noble right concentration with its supports and requisite conditions.

text: According to the discourses, right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness are used as the support and requisite conditions for the practice of right concentration. Understanding of the right view is the preliminary role, and is also the forerunner of the entire Noble Eightfold Path.[43][96]

text: According to the modern Theravada bhikkhu (monk) and scholar Walpola Rahula, the divisions of the noble eightfold path "are to be developed more or less simultaneously, as far as possible according to the capacity of each individual. They are all linked together and each helps the cultivation of the others."[97] Bhikkhu Bodhi explains that these factors are not sequential, but components, and "with a certain degree of progress all eight factors can be present simultaneously, each supporting the others. However, until that point is reached, some sequence in the unfolding of the path is inevitable."[98]

text: The stage in the Path where there is no more learning in Yogachara Abhidharma, state Buswell and Gimello, is identical to Nirvana or Buddhahood, the ultimate goal in Buddhism.[99][100]

text: Gender[edit]

text: According to Bernard Faure, the ancient and medieval Buddhist texts and traditions, like other religions, were almost always unfavorable or discriminatory against women, in terms of their ability to pursue Noble Eightfold Path, attain Buddhahood and nirvana.[101][102] This issue of presumptions about the "female religious experience" is found in Indian texts, in translations into non-Indian languages, and in regional non-Indian commentaries written in East Asian kingdoms such as those in China, Japan and southeast Asia.[101] Yet, like other Indian religions, exceptions and veneration of females is found in Indian Buddhist texts, and female Buddhist deities are likewise described in positive terms and with reverence. Nevertheless, females are seen as polluted with menstruation, sexual intercourse, death and childbirth. Rebirth as a woman is seen in the Buddhist texts as a result of part of past karma, and inferior than that of a man.[101]

text: In some Chinese and Japanese Buddhist texts, the status of female deities are not presented positively, unlike the Indian tradition, states Faure.[101] In the Huangshinu dui Jingang (Woman Huang explicates the Diamond Sutra), a woman admonishes her husband about he slaughtering animals, who attacks her gender and her past karma, implying that "women go to hell" not because of her intentions nor actions (kamma), but simply because of the biology of her gender and the bodily functions over which she has no choice.[103][104] Similar discriminatory presumptions are found in other Buddhist texts such as the Blood Bowl Sutra and the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra.[101][103] In the Five Obstacles theory[note 7] of Buddhism, a woman is required to attain rebirth as a man before she can adequately pursue the Eightfold Path and reach perfect Buddhahood. The Lotus Sutra similarly presents the story of the Dragon King's daughter, who desires to achieve perfect enlightenment. The Sutra states that, "Her female organs vanished, the male organs became visible, then she appeared as a bodhisattva".[107]

text: Gender discrimination worsened during the medieval era in various sub-traditions of Buddhism that independently developed regionally, such as in Japan.[108]

text: Some scholars, such as Kenneth Doo Young Lee, interpret the Lotus Sutra to imply that "women were capable of gaining salvation", either after they first turned into a man, or being reborn in Pure Land realm after following the Path.[109] Peter Harvey lists many Sutras that suggest "having faded out the mind-set of a woman and developed the mind-set of a man, he was born in his present male form", and who then proceeds to follow the Path and became an Arahant.[110] Among Mahayana texts, there is a sutra dedicated to the concept of how a person might be born as a woman. The traditional assertion is that women are more prone to harboring feelings of greed, hatred and delusion than a man. The Buddha responds to this assumption by teaching the method of moral development through which a woman can achieve rebirth as a man.[111]

text: According to Wei-Yi Cheng, the Pali Canon is silent about women's inferior karma, but have statements and stories that mention the Eightfold Path while advocating female subordination.[112] For example, a goddess reborn in the heavenly realm asserts:

text: When I was born a human being among men I was a daughter-in-law in a wealthy family. I was without anger, obedient to my husband, diligent on the Observance (days). When I was born a human being, young and innocent, with a mind of faith, I delighted my lord. By day and by night I acted to please. Of old (...). On the fourteenth, fifteenth and eighth (days) of the bright fortnight and on a special day of the fortnight well connected with the eightfold (precepts) I observed the Observance day with a mind of faith, was one who was faring according to Dhamma with zeal in my heart...

text: Such examples, states Wei-Yi Cheng, include conflating statements about spiritual practice (Eightfold Path, Dhamma) and "obedience to my husband" and "by day and by night I acted to please", thus implying unquestioned obedience of male authority and female subjugation.[112] Such statements are not isolated, but common, such as in section II.13 of the Petavatthu which teaches that a woman had to "put away the thoughts of a woman" as she pursued the Path and this merit obtained her a better rebirth; the Jataka stories of the Pali Canon have numerous such stories, as do the Chinese Sutta that assert "undesirability of womanhood".[112] Modern Buddhist nuns have applied Buddhist doctrines such as Pratītyasamutpāda to explain their disagreement with women's inferior karma in past lives as implied in Samyutta Nikaya 13, states Wei-Yi Cheng, while asserting that the Path can be practiced by either gender and "both men and women can become arhant".[113]

text: Cognitive psychology[edit]

text: The noble eightfold path has been compared to cognitive psychology, wherein states Gil Fronsdal, the right view factor can be interpreted to mean how one's mind views the world, and how that leads to patterns of thought, intention and actions.[114] In contrast, Peter Randall states that it is the seventh factor or right mindfulness that may be thought in terms of cognitive psychology, wherein the change in thought and behavior are linked.[115]